#rivervale_lodge

"I'm tired, Hearth" She says "I've patrolled, and then had to play peacemaker between Tiff and Vali, watched the baby, and I think I may have run into a black knight sworn to destroy me. He took one look and said "you know what, I'll catch you on another day""

A wry look. "I'm going to assume the last has a bit of fiction to it. You've been working hard, Gerd. You've earned a good flump." She pulls a throw blanket out of the linen closet and tosses it to Gerd.

"Thanks" She catches it "Last one was fan fic, yeah. But things are tense and i'm not sure why. "

A deep breath that she lets out slowly. "I've been briefed, a bit. There are things going on and...it's going to be difficult."

"Oh" She straightens "How can I Help?"

"Well...I'm not sure how much I should share yet, Gerd." She takes a seat nearby. "But there have been strange prophecies, and the possibility that the Chieftain may need to ask for assistance from...willworkers." She ends quietly.

"Oh crap. That's serious. I say that as a witch"

Kerri nods...and then does a double-take. "Oh, sweet Dreaming. Gerd...I think so much of you as Gerd, I forgot. You are a witch. I wonder if that is close enough...."

"Close enough for....?"

"I don't know all the details, but I wonder if you might be able to figure out how to do whatever it is that the Chieftain is going to the willworker for."

"Well that depends on the whatever" She ponders "Any more details on that? You know Wayfare is mystrongest but I am finally catching up in soothsay"

"Soothsay has always seemed terribly dangerous to me."

"it is..."A nod "A ... well, I want to call her peer, but a superior of mine once told me that it was like weaving nettles, sharp ones"

"Mmm." An unconscious rub of her fingertips at that image. "I think...Gerd, I know you're tired, but I think you should speak to the Chieftain when she returns."

"I will" A nod "I guess I will get context then if ever." A beat, then a smile "Olgar miss you?"

A brow...and a grin. "Nosey, Miss Thing. But yes. And I missed him."

"Have you had time to see Wudlig?"

"Not as much as I like. He lost the arm contest and I really wanted to go to him"

"I mean, I told him it was okay and his arm was great but.. I couldn't do much in a single day"

"I'm sorry. He's survived disappointments before, though. He's resilient."

'This is about his crafting. Nockers are very invested in their crafting. It's who they are" She says "I love that he's passionate , but I wish I could just shake him and go 'you'll get the next one, you ninnygob'"

"Probably not something you've experienced" A sigh

A blink. "I'm going to remind you whose wife I am, and whose mother I am. And who I work with, for that matter." A brow.

"I've dealt with something like that. A time or two."

"Oh sorry" She shakes her head "I guess... well , Uncle Olgar always seems to be coming in here triumphant. Like ..he's got swagger?"

"Hmm...dig back a bit, if you can. I don't know how much Vegard paid attention to Olgar, if at all, but he might have seen him being a little less swagger-y a time or two."

She seems to focus, then her eyes roll back into her head and an old voice comes out "Seems to me it was when he was wounded, not just in body, but to his heart for failing to save someone that you got the most tender to him, Kerri Lass"

A quick inhale, and her hands tense for a moment. She closes her eyes, then after a moment nods. "Exactly right, Vegard." Then, "Gerd...please warn me before you're going to do that."

"It's been easier lately" She frowns shaking her head "Like barriers are all ..gooey. Stone is sand, the bottom floats and the top sinks"

"I'm glad you're able to access your past. But that voice goes straight to my heart," she says with a pained look. "I do miss him, sometimes, even if he's you."

"I know... everyone does. I used to kind of resent him, but .. he must have been a good man to be loved so much."

"He was. Now, don't confuse good with perfect. He was not perfect. But he was very well-loved."

"No kidding... could be as stubborn as the day is long, even by troll standards I hear. '

"True. And...forgive me, Vegard...he had enough sorrows that he needed to drown them every now and then."

"I know. Everyone tried to hide it from me, but he did love the sauce. Ironic. He had that. I have an eating disorder. History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes"

"Yes. Patterns and refrains."

"Be nice if my next life would come in free of that. But maybe there's something meant to learn"

She doesn't answer right away. "Perhaps. Or perhaps it is just a central part of your story. We all have to wrestle with echoes of the past."

"I suppose" Gerd says "Hearth, have you had time to talk much with Eir Frey, Happy, or Squire Valter?"

"I have not. I went off with Ashblythe fairly soon after they arrived."

"Okay, well, I'm at something of an embarrassing situation. I invited two folks over here from Texas and... then EVERYTHING happened so I feel like I promised folks an interview only to keep them dangling. If you could get to know them? See what you think and let them decide how they get along with you in turn?"

"I will make sure to do exactly that, and I'm sorry that it may seem to them that theyve been put on the back-burner."

"Actually, if Happy's upset you wouldn't know it. He doesn't have frowns, just lesser degrees of smiles"

"Yes, what's that all about? Any idea?"

"No one has said... should have asked Eir Frey. Still, he's a good Kenner"

Kerri nods thoughtfully. "Well, I'll get to work finding out what I can and getting to know them better."

"Eir Frey is a healer , knows herbs, helping Myrtle Anne with that" A beat "Oh,she also said she saw a boggan girl cleaning the Irownhawk porch who looked utterly miserable. I think she saw Cleo"

"Oh, poor Cleo. She's had such hardship, and she's so small and quiet, she's very easy to overlook. I'll have to seek her out, as well."

"Well, Anne Marie is swamped ... I mean, with all those migrants that jerk politician dumped on the NYC area and we getting the overflow, she's trying to make sure they get treated like the humans they are"

"Yes, absolutely, I'm not going to put anything more on AnneMarie's shoulders. She's our Atlas, but we mustn't exhaust her."